Harry Belafonte

Multi-talented actor and musician Harry Belafonte was the first black performer to win an Emmy Award and the first recording artist to sell over a million copies of an album, though he was doubtlessly...
Read More...

Birdman was the toast of the 87th Oscars on Sunday (22Feb15), earning Best Picture as Eddie Redmayne and Julianne Moore also celebrated big wins at Hollywood's big night.
Birdman filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was named Best Director, while he also claimed Best Original Screenplay and Emmanuel Lubezki received the Best Cinematography award. Redmayne couldn't contain his excitement as he collected the Best Actor prize for his Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, and Julianne Moore scored Best Actress for Still Alice, while fellow awards season favourites and first-time nominees J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) and Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) walked away with the best supporting acting prizes.
Wes Anderson also had reason to celebrate as The Grand Budapest Hotel, which tied with Birdman for the most nominations with nine nods apiece, scored four titles, including Best Original Score for Alexandre Desplat. Each of the nominations for Best Original Song were performed, but it was John Legend and Common's powerful rendition of Selma track "Glory" which left actors David Oyelowo and Chris Pine in tears at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre as the audience gave the musicians a standing ovation. "Glory" went on to win the category. Meanwhile, Jennifer Hudson honoured the stars lost in the past year by singing "I Can't Let Go" as part of the In Memoriam segment, and Lady Gaga helped to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Oscar-winning movie The Sound of Music with an impressive medley of hits from the Dame Julie Andrews musical, including Edelweiss, Climb Ev'ry Mountain and the title song.
Ceremony host Neil Patrick Harris also showed off his vocals by opening the 2015 prizegiving with a comedic song and dance number with Anna Kendrick and actor/rocker Jack Black.
The full list of winners at the 2015 Oscars is:
Best Motion Picture of the Year: Birdman
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best Achievement in Directing: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman
Best Writing, Original Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo, Birdman
Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay: Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year: Ida (Poland)
Best Animated Feature Film: Big Hero 6 Best Documentary, Feature: Citizenfour
Best Documentary, Short Subject: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Best Short Film, Animated: Feast Best Short Film, Live Action: The Phone Call
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song: "Glory" from Selma, by John Legend and Common
Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score: Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Achievement in Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Best Achievement in Film Editing: Tom Cross, Whiplash
Best Achievement in Costume Design: Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Achievement in Production Design: Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Interstellar Best Achievement in Sound Editing: American Sniper
Best Achievement in Sound Mixing: Whiplash
Academy Honorary Awards: Jean-Claude Carriere Hayao Miyazaki Maureen O'Hara Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Harry Belafonte.

Actress Rosario Dawson, musician Harry Belafonte and fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier have been honoured at the annual amfAR gala in New York City for their continued work in the fight against AIDS. Award presenters Chris Rock, Whoopi Goldberg and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour joined guests including Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton, Kendall Jenner and Karlie Kloss for Wednesday's (11Feb15) bash at Cipriani Wall Street for the traditional kick off for New York Fashion Week.
During her acceptance speech at the black tie event, Sin City star Dawson hailed her adopted uncle Frank, who has been living with HIV since 1984, as her "hero" and dedicated her prize to her mother Isabel Celeste, as she was celebrating her birthday that night, while Belafonte paid tribute to amfAR co-founder Elizabeth Taylor, thanking charity bosses for helping him to make a difference, revealing, "We have a new and enlightened global community; we are now on the threshold of breakthroughs that never existed before we stepped into the fray."
The event, which featured a performance from Dame Shirley Bassey and an art auction, raised $2.2 million (£1.4 million) for the cause.

Recordings by artists including Bob Dylan, Abba and Chic will be added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015. The list of 27 classic singles or albums, aged 25 years or older, have been chosen by bosses at The Recording Company for being "memorable, inspiring and iconic" and becoming a part of the public's "musical, social, and cultural history."
The list includes singles such as Le Freak by Chic, Dancing Queen by ABBA, School's Out by Alice Cooper, Try a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding and Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed, who will also be posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year (15).
Albums to be inducted include Never Mind the B*****ks, Here's the Sex Pistols by the Sex Pistols, Blood on the Tracks by Bob Dylan and other discs by Kraftwerk, Neil Young, Harry Belafonte, Leonard Cohen and Willie Nelson.
They will be inducted in February (15).

Filmmaker Steve Mcqueen is developing a big screen adaptation of cult British mini-series Widows. The 12 Years a Slave director will begin pre-production on the project by the end of the year (14), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
He will also serve as the film's writer and producer on the film.
The series aired in the U.K. in 1983 and centred on three widows struggling to come to terms with their husbands' deaths during an armed bank robbery. It also inspired a four-part U.S. TV mini-series featuring Rosie Perez and Brooke Shields.
In addition to the Widows film, McQueen is also teaming up with actor Harry Belafonte to develop a Paul Robeson biopic.

Filmmaker Steve Mcqueen is teaming up with Harry Belafonte to produce a biopic about singer/actor Paul Robeson. The 12 Years a Slave director has dreamed of honouring the American Civil Rights activist with a big screen tribute for several years, but felt he didn't have the star power to get it made.
He says, "His life and legacy was the film I wanted to make the second after (my debut film) Hunger, but I didn't have the power, I didn't have the juice."
Brit McQueen first learned about Robeson, who performed for unemployed miners in South Wales in the 1920s and and 1930s, at the age of 14 and instantly became interested in his story.
He continues, "It was about this black guy who was in Wales and was singing with these miners. I was about 14 years old, and not knowing who Paul Robeson was, this black American in Wales, it seemed strange. So then, of course, I just found out that this man was an incredible human being."
McQueen has not disclosed who he wants to play Robeson or how Belafonte is involved with the project, but he is thrilled the film is finally in the works.
He adds, "We're very fortunate that we're on a roll together to make this dream a reality. Miracles do happen. With Paul Robeson and Harry Belafonte, things have come full circle."
Robeson passed away in 1976.

Singer/actor Harry Belafonte received an honorary Oscar at the Governors Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday (08Nov14). The Carmen Jones star was presented with the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by Susan Sarandon in recognition of his lifelong commitment to campaigning for civil rights.
During his speech, Belafonte implored the Hollywood stars at the ceremony to use their fame to make the world "see a better side of what we are as a species".
He added, "To be rewarded by my peers for my work, human rights, civil rights, peace, let me put it this way: It powerfully mutes the enemy's thunder."
He also brought actor Sidney Poitier on stage to share the moment with him, calling the movie legend "a man who gave so much of his own life to redirect the ship of racial hatred in American culture."
Irish actress Maureen O'Hara received a standing ovation as she headed to the podium in her wheelchair. The 94 year old was handed her honorary Oscar by Clint Eastwood and Liam Neeson, while Nicole Kidman paid tribute via video message.
Honours were also handed out to Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki and French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere.
Other guests at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland included Keira Knightley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, Logan Lerman, Emily Blunt and her husband John Krasinski and director Ron Howard.

Director Steve Mcqueen, veteran musician Harry Belafonte and TV titan Oprah Winfrey were among those honoured at Harvard University for their contributions to African-American culture. Belafonte, Winfrey and 12 Years A Slave director McQueen were feted at a ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Tuesday (30Sep14) by officials at the school's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research.
The W.E.B. Du Bois Medals, which were given to eight individuals this year (14), are Harvard's highest honour in the field of African and African American Studies.
In addition to Belafonte, McQueen and Winfrey, other winners included Grey's Anatomy and Scandal creator Shonda Rhimes and movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
Winfrey also accepted a posthumous award on behalf of her good friend and late poet Maya Angelou, who died earlier this year (14).

Alicia Keys, Harry Belafonte and actress Tyne Daly were among the celebrities who helped to celebrate the life of late screen icon Ruby Dee at a special memorial service on Saturday (20Sep14). Guests gathered at the Riverside Church in New York to salute the actress and civil rights activist in a three-hour ceremony, which featured performances from jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, Peter, Paul and Mary star Peter Yarrow and pregnant Keys, who sang her Superwoman hit for the crowd.
Daly joined fellow actresses, including Phylicia Rashad, Kim Fields, Pauletta Washington, Lynn Whitfield and S. Epatha Merkerson, to read passages of Dee's poetry and prose, while the veteran entertainer's A Raisin in the Sun co-star Glynn Turman paid tribute to Dee, saying, "I feel honoured to have known Ruby Dee, but I feel so very blessed that she knew me."
There was also a message from U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, who praised the Jungle Fever star for her "extraordinary life" and for "throwing open the doors of opportunity", while Belafonte delivered a eulogy on video and Sidney Poitier remembered Dee as "an artist, the likes of which I have never seen" in a letter read out during the service.
Actress Angela Bassett and Broadway star Audra McDonald were notably absent from the previously announced line-up after having to pull out of the ceremony at late notice.
Dee died in June (14) at the age of 91.

Alicia Keys and Broadway star Audra Macdonald have signed up to lead a tribute to late actress and civil rights activist Ruby Dee. A memorial for the star will be held at the Riverside Church in New York on 20 September (14), and Keys and MacDonald will be among the famous faces saluting the movie and theatre great, who died in June (14), aged 91.
Dee's poetry and prose will be read by Angela Bassett, Tyne Daly, Phylicia Rashad, Pauletta Washington and Lynn Whitfield, among others, while Harry Belafonte will deliver a eulogy.

Singer/actor Harry Belafonte and actress Maureen O'hara are set to be honoured at the Governors Awards later this year (14). The Carmen Jones star will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which is given to "an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry," while O'Hara will be feted with an honorary Academy Award at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles on 8 November (14).
Announcing the new honours on Thursday (28Aug14), Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs said, "The Governors Awards allow us to reflect upon not the year in film, but the achievements of a lifetime.
"We're absolutely thrilled to honour these outstanding members of our global filmmaking community and look forward to celebrating with them in November."

Returned to Broadway to star in "Three for Tonight", a musical review co-starring Marge and Gower Champion

Made cameo appearances as himself in two films directed by Robert Altman, "The Player" (1992) and "Ready to Wear/Pret-a-Porter"

Returned to feature acting in the title role of "The Angel Levine"

Co-produced the Broadway drama, "Asinamali!", about life in prison in South Africa

Hosted and narrated the three-part PBS documentary miniseries, "Routes of Rhythm with Harry Belafonte", a study of Afro-Cuban music

Executive produced first TV-movie, "The Affair", presented on HBO

Played a then-record-breaking 14 weeks at the Palace Theater in concert (date approximate)

Produced a second feature film, the musical "Beat Street"; also supplied additional music and served as music producer; son David also earned a credit for sound recording

Made film acting debut in a leading role in "Bright Road"

Formed Harbel Productions; first film as executive producer, "Odds Against Tomorrow", directed by Robert Wise; also starred in the film; last feature film role for 11 years

First significant feature film acting role in over 20 years, "White Man's Burden"

First TV producing credit: executive producing the HBO concert special, "Harry Belafonte: Don't Stop the Carnival", in which he also starred

Released first record album, "Calypso"; according to some sources, was the first album in recording history to sell over a million copies

Summary

Multi-talented actor and musician Harry Belafonte was the first black performer to win an Emmy Award and the first recording artist to sell over a million copies of an album, though he was doubtlessly most proud of his longstanding work as an activist in international fights against racism, violence and world hunger. Belafonte got his start in New York theater, but his sideline as a nightclub singer propelled his mainstream breakout when his 1954 album <i>Calypso</i> popularized the music of his Jamaican heritage and hit number one on the charts. A respected authority on international folk music and a world-touring performer, Belafonte also enjoyed a career as an actor and producer, where he was involved in important early African-American productions including "Carmen Jones" (1954), in which he starred alongside Dorothy Dandridge, and Lorraine Hansberry's landmark play "To Be Young, Gifted, and Black," which he produced. Whatever the nature of the work, Belafonte's style remained solid - the casual friendliness and warm, jaunty humor were sincere; the fierceness and intensity often surprising.